Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle occupant protection device.
Related Art
An airbag device is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-344044) in which, at a time of collision, gas from an inflator is supplied through a gas supply pipe fixed to a seatback into a bag attached to the gas supply pipe and inflates the bag so as to surround the front and sides of a vehicle occupant. An airbag device is also known (for example, see JP-A No. 2013-018378) in which head airbags inflate forward from left and right side portions of a headrest, and come together at the front face of the head of a vehicle occupant, while a head auxiliary airbag inflates forward from a central portion of the headrest and comes together with the pair of head airbags.
In the structure of JP-A No. 2000-344044, because the gas supply pipe is provided to protrude above the seatback, appearance is poor and the gas supply pipe is an impediment to operations of the vehicle seat. This problem has been addressed by structures in which a head airbag is stowed in a headrest, such as in JP-A No. 2013-018378.
However, the volume of an airbag that includes a front inflation portion and a pair of side inflation portions, which is to be inflated and expanded to the front and both sides of the head of a vehicle occupant, is large but space for stowage thereof in a headrest is limited. Therefore, stowing the above-described airbag with a large volume, and an inflator with a large volume that supplies gas to this airbag, in a headrest while assuring designability of the headrest is difficult. Therefore, in a structure in which an inflator is simply disposed in a seatback, there is scope for improvement with regard to functions such as, for example, assuring cushioning of the seatback, assuring space behind the seatback and so forth.